At Risk for Being Overweight

[Pea-n-Me]

A wise old nurse once told me: saying all a nurse does is "empty bedpans" is like saying all a mother does is change diapers. Both roles involve a whole lot more than what meets the eye, and are often underappreciated.

It's disheartening to those us who take pride in providing excellent patient care to hear how our profession is thought of by some.

IMO, if our school had a concerned mother in the nurse's office, it would be handled as well as, or better, than having an RN in that position. I'd trust someone else's mother to see if my child is really sick enough to go home, or if it's something else. I'd trust someone else's mother to hand out an aspirin or bandaid. Heck, if one of them fell in the playground, I'd trust someone else's mother to make sure they remain still until the ambulance or I arrived. I just literally have no respect or trust for the nurse that is in our school.

I would suggest if you have a problem with this particular nurse you should take it up with the appropriate school administrators.

 

[lilostitch]

Got a letter from the school nurse yesterday. Seems that they weighed and measured all of the students in 4th grade last week. The letter was to caution me that my DS was borderline to being overweight. He is 58.5 inches and 101 pounds.... of solid muscle. Really, during the summer you can see this kids' 6 packs. He'll be 11 next month.

Weird. I work in an elementary school, and I can't imagine a school nurse weighing the children...bizarre

 

[georgina]

Weird. I work in an elementary school, and I can't imagine a school nurse weighing the children...bizarre

It is a new state requirement in PA - to check BMI and inform the parents if it is within certain ranges.

 

[disykat]

I was weighed yearly in 5th - 8th grade, along with everyone else at my school. This was probably about 1972 - 1975. My kids haven't gotten weighed at school.

We had weight discussions with the pediatrician when they were babies because my kids were under 10% on the chart. When I'd record what they were eating I would get scolded for letting them eat too much. Sometimes you've just got to roll your eyes and move on.

 

[Mskanga]

This reminds me a few months ago the school nurse had a problem with something with my daughter and decided that she needed to "talk to her doctor" , apparently she got quite nasty with him because he would not ok what she wanted. He called me and let me know what happened , I flipped because she did all that without me knowing it. Fast forward to last september , I took my daughter in with the broken collarbone and she is at my doctor's office working now! So when I went in I reminded him about the issue and told him that the nurse that was working with him that day was the nurse he had the argument with, the same one that at another time refused to help my daughter fix her broken eyeglasses because "she wasn't trained for that " and gave her the screwdriver to fix it herself , she couldn't fix the glasses because she needed her glasses in order to see you moron!
His answer was "I did not know but why am I not surprised?"

 

[GEM]

Well, I apologize for this flame, too, but I'm starting to notice a real pattern with your posts - and I remember enough of your previous posts to believe it's not just a freak occurence over the last few days.

A. Make an obnoxious, outlandish, or just plain crazy statment.

B. Get very hostile, defensive, and just plain nasty when someone calls you on it. Claim you were misunderstood, but never apologize for the original remark.

C. Post about how that someone is "picking on you" by pointing out the flaw in whatever crazy statement you made.

Surely, you can see that these two statements you made are NOT simply two different ways of saying the same thing:

Why can't the nurses just do what they're hired to do, care for illness, look for lice and put bandaids on boo boos...

What I'm trying to say is let the nurses be nurses, not pencil pushers.

The first statement is very rude and demeaning toward school nurses. If you were really trying to say what you said in the second statment, then the first statment is clearly an example of very, very bad phrasing and word choice - because the two phrases above in no way carry the same sentiment.

If you find yourself so constantly being misunderstood, maybe you should stop thinking "poor me" and start thinking about what words to use before you post. Seriously, words matter. If you're really being taken the wrong way, maybe there is something you can do about it.

And, actually writing the words "Oh, shut up" to another adult on a message board . . . Wow. That's just honestly not a great way to show your maturity and your reasoning and writing skills.

 

[Disneyrsh]

This is like the third topic you're following me onto, GEM! Are you stalking me? What's up with that! Leave me alone, please.

 

[GEM]

Um, actually it's the second topic in about 4,000 posts of mine that we've even communicated on, as far as I know. And, I'm terribly sorry for offending you. I'm especially sorry if hearing the truth about the way you post seems to bother you.

I didn't realize that I wasn't allowed to post on threads that you had already posted on. I'll definately take that under consideration before I post from now on.

Honestly, your posts are making me wonder if maybe that's not a picture of your mom and dad in your signature.

And, thanks for proving my point for me.

A. Make an obnoxious, outlandish, or just plain crazy statment.

B. Get very hostile, defensive, and just plain nasty when someone calls you on it. Claim you were misunderstood, but never apologize for the original remark.

C. Post about how that someone is "picking on you" by pointing out the flaw in whatever crazy statement you made.

I'm not going to post back to you any more on this thread. It's taking it way too far OT from where the OP started. I apologize for that.

But, yes, the next time you post to another thread with a wild, over the top, or rude statment and then follow your usual pattern, I may point it out to you. If that really bothers you as much as you claim, then maybe you should think about what you're going to say before you start typing.

 

[Disney Doll]

Disney Doll, first of all, I usually find myself standing and applauding everything that you say, but I'm not sure how I feel about this statement. Neglectful parents can be found all across the country - in all 50 states, I'm sure. To imply that there are "many areas of the country" where parents aren't doing their job seems a bit much. I don't think the area of the country that a child lives in has any direct correlation to the amount of care and attention their parents give them. Maybe that isn't what you meant, at all, but that's how I perceived it. I could you see your point if you were talking about students in low income school disctricts, etc. who might not have as much access to medical and dental care, but those types of districts can sadly be found anywhere in the US. Maybe I totally misunderstood your point, though.

Well, I guess "every state" would fill the bill of "many areas of the country", right?

"Every state", "many areas of the country", "all over the land"...however you want to say it, the fact remains that there are children who do not receive proper medical care from their parents, and the school nurse often serves as another person looking out for their well-being.

I'm sure we can all agree that having as many people as possible looking out for a child's well-being is a good thing.

 

[Disney Doll]

Oh, shut up. I immediately added a second post to correct my first post because it was immediately obvious that what I was trying to say was not conveyed correctly *at all* by the first post. If you had bothered to read it, not only did I immediately correct it, when Peas n me got upset reading the first post I also added that I had not conveyed what I had meant to convey, which is that nurses should be allowed to do what they do best, nurse, and not pencil push.

And yes, my kid comes first. And I grew up dirt poor. And I mean, DIRT poor. I work my BUTT off to make sure my kids have EVERY opportunity that my parents could not give me when I was young. So keep your obnoxious remarks to yourself and learn to read a little more carefully.

I apologize for this flame for the others that have to read it, but I'm really angry about Disney Doll picking on me for making sure that my kids are happy and healthy. Yeah, I work DAMN hard at it, and it's not "must be nice". So don't even go there, honey.

Your tone is offensive, again.
I am most impressed with how well you think you've done.
I am quite happy that you choose to take such good care of your children.
I, too, work hard.
I'll "go" wherever I choose. It is for you to decide how to respond...the response highlighted above is not your finest moment.
And I am not your "honey".

Good day.

 

[Disney Doll]

You've hit the nail on the head. She's, IMO, a moron and anything that she sends home to me will be dealt with the same way as anything else I get from a self-perceived moron.

IMO, if our school had a concerned mother in the nurse's office, it would be handled as well as, or better, than having an RN in that position. I'd trust someone else's mother to see if my child is really sick enough to go home, or if it's something else. I'd trust someone else's mother to hand out an aspirin or bandaid. Heck, if one of them fell in the playground, I'd trust someone else's mother to make sure they remain still until the ambulance or I arrived. I just literally have no respect or trust for the nurse that is in our school.

Please note: There are other school nurses for whom I've had considerable respect. Just not this one.

Actually, up until the part where you said "If our school had a concerned mother in the nurse's office, it would be handled as well, or better, than having an RN in that position" I thought you were OK.

Again, I would repeat that your dislike of this particular nurse is coloring your opinion of all nurses.

 

[Disney Doll]

What is the probability that these children, whose parents aren't caring for them the way that they should, will get the proper medical care when the parents get the note from the school's nurse? In theory, it's better than nothing, but if the child doesn't get a thorough examination as recommended, then what are the benefits of the preliminary screening? Other than to make the schools and government feel/look like they are doing something, I'm not seeing the long term benefits for the children whose lives are truly affected.

The only effect it may have is making the child feel like someone gives a flying hoot about them.

Or maybe it starts the long trail of documentation that one needs to justify things in this day and age, so that one doesn't get sued.

 

[chobie]

Well, I apologize for this flame, too, but I'm starting to notice a real pattern with your posts - and I remember enough of your previous posts to believe it's not just a freak occurence over the last few days.

A. Make an obnoxious, outlandish, or just plain crazy statment.

B. Get very hostile, defensive, and just plain nasty when someone calls you on it. Claim you were misunderstood, but never apologize for the original remark.

C. Post about how that someone is "picking on you" by pointing out the flaw in whatever crazy statement you made.

Surely, you can see that these two statements you made are NOT simply two different ways of saying the same thing:





The first statement is very rude and demeaning toward school nurses. If you were really trying to say what you said in the second statment, then the first statment is clearly an example of very, very bad phrasing and word choice - because the two phrases above in no way carry the same sentiment.

If you find yourself so constantly being misunderstood, maybe you should stop thinking "poor me" and start thinking about what words to use before you post. Seriously, words matter. If you're really being taken the wrong way, maybe there is something you can do about it.

And, actually writing the words "Oh, shut up" to another adult on a message board . . . Wow. That's just honestly not a great way to show your maturity and your reasoning and writing skills.

You hit the nail on the head, Gem. ITA.

 

[RUDisney]

Actually, up until the part where you said "If our school had a concerned mother in the nurse's office, it would be handled as well, or better, than having an RN in that position" I thought you were OK.

Again, I would repeat that your dislike of this particular nurse is coloring your opinion of all nurses.

Sorry, I should have said that RN in that position. A concerned mother would do far better than she. My sister is an RN. If she were in that position, or an RN of equal caliber, I wouldn't be so fussy about this. This district is very political and full of nepotism. She was hired when she was married to the nephew of the superintendent. She needed no qualifications, really, other than her ability to know bookwork to pass the test. She has no patient, or parent, or practical skills that I can see.

RNs in this country have a very hard job, are hardly respected enough for what they must know and do, and hardly have the time to do the job they signed up for because they are grossly understaffed. Sorry, I don't like our school's RN... not all RNs.

 

[Disney Doll]

Sorry, I should have said that RN in that position. A concerned mother would do far better than she. My sister is an RN. If she were in that position, or an RN of equal caliber, I wouldn't be so fussy about this. This district is very political and full of nepotism. She was hired when she was married to the nephew of the superintendent. She needed no qualifications, really, other than her ability to know bookwork to pass the test. She has no patient, or parent, or practical skills that I can see.

RNs in this country have a very hard job, are hardly respected enough for what they must know and do, and hardly have the time to do the job they signed up for because they are grossly understaffed. Sorry, I don't like our school's RN... not all RNs.

Thank you RUDisney. And BTW, I have known a few RNs that I didn't like either. Every profession has its bad apples.

But most of us really do try. And really do care about our patients. Unfortuantely there are not a lot of us around anymore, and that's only going ot get worse as time goes on.

 

[RUDisney]

Unfortuantely there are not a lot of us around anymore, and that's only going ot get worse as time goes on.

And the "system" is doing well at keeping potential candidates away through low pay, bad hours (mandatory OT), understaffing and high insurance rates. My sister once had her charge nurse tell her that one of her 15 patients in telemetry (sp?) was to be on suicide watch per the doctor's instructions. She asked, "how am I going to take care of the other patients when I have to stay with this one?" Her charge nurse's response was, "if she dies, she dies." I guess she didn't care about how my sister would feel if she wasn't there to prevent a suicide, or how much time she'd have to spend in the courts when she was sued by the family, and what it would do to her insurance rates. That's when my sister decided that she wanted to sell pharmaceuticals for a living instead of use her RN to establish a long-term career.